America East Basketball News & Notes: League Play Begins

Read Time:4 Minute, 12 Second

We are off and running with league action in the America East Conference. Solid performances were seen on Saturday as Bryant, Binghamton, UMass Lowell, and Vermont earned their first league wins. Let’s dive in and see how the first day of conference hoops went.

First, we take a peek at the latest rankings of some of the teams. We begin with the team at the top of the league at the moment, the River Hawks (12-4, 1-0). They are trending upward in the ranking this week. Their NET ranking has moved to #152 which once again is the best in the league. Their KenPom ranking is at #132. They find themselves just outside the Top 25 in the Mid-Major Poll at #26 with 58 votes. Just to give you an idea of how many polls are out there. UMass Lowell is ranked at #23 in the One-Bid Mid-Major Top 25 poll. This is for leagues that are expected to have only one team in the field of 68 come March.

As for other teams in the conference, Bryant (7-9, 1-0) is at #191 in both the NET and KenPom polls. Maine (8-8, 1-0) is at #224 in the NET, and UAlbany (8-8, 1-0) is at #240 in the NET as well. The defending champions, the Vermont Catamounts (8-8, 1-0) are at #224 in the KenPom. Now to the first set of games

The River Hawks, winners of seven straight, started on the road at the Great Danes. This was an interesting game, to say the least, with 11 ties and 14 lead changes. The Great Danes outscored the River Hawks 54-38 in the paint and outrebounded them 45-32. UAlbany received a double-double off the bench from Justin Neely (15 points, 13 rebounds), had three starters in double-figures, and still lost the game, 73-69. Two reasons for this one was free throw shooting, UAlbany was 7-of-14 (50%) while UMass Lowell was 15-of-17 (88.2%). The second was 3-point shooting. Neither was good from deep as the Great Danes were 2-of-18 (11.1%) and UMass Lowell was only 4-of-22 (18.2%). In fact, in the first half, both teams combined to go 0-18 from 3-point land.

So how did the River Hawks pull this off? They got double-digits from four of their five starters with Max Brooks and Quinton Mincy leading the way with 16 points apiece. It was the balanced production that pushed the River Hawks past the finish line to get the road win. On Thursday night, Vermont comes to Costello Athletic Center for the first of two battles. We know the recent history of these two and Thursday night will be round one.

Vermont started on the road at UNH. The Wildcats (2-14, 0-1) had a difficult time putting the ball in the basket scoring only 17 second-half points on 5-of-24 (20.8%) from the field and 2-of-11 (18.1%) from 3-point land. The Catamounts cruised to a 60-40 win with three members of the starting fine in double-figures led by TJ Hurley with 17. Vermont is healthy after battling through injuries during the non-conference portion of their schedule. Watch out as a run could be on the way for Vermont.

On paper, Bryant vs Maine looked like the game of the day in the league. However, it did not turn out that way. The Bulldogs got a combined 36 points and 21 rebounds from Earl Timberlake (18 points and 13 boards) and Barry Evans (18 points and 8 rebounds) to take down the Black Bears, 81-55. They turned Maine over 15 times which resulted in 16 points for Bryant. The Bulldogs had 26 points off the bench, 11 from Kvonn Cramer to pick up the home win.

Binghamton (9-7, 1-0) has won six of their last seven games. On Saturday, they used a double-double from this week’s AE Player of the Week, Gavin Walsh with 18 points and 17 rebounds to defeat UMBC, 87-82. Walsh would get help as all five Bearcats starters finished in double-figures led by Chris Walker with 21. UMBC had four players, three of them starters, in double-digits with Bryce Johnson leading the way with 23. Three-point shooting may have done UMBC in as they shot just 33.3% (5-for-15). The reason? Each team had 48 points in the paint.

The AE Rookie of the Week is Quentin Duncan of NJIT. The Highlanders play non-league hoops on Saturday. The freshman guard from Waterbury, CT. made his collegiate debut for the Highlanders and scored 26 points, had six rebounds, and two assists in an NJIT win. This is Duncan’s first weekly award.

Thursday night, Binghamton is at Maine, UMBC at NJIT, and UAlbany at UNH. Get out and see some good college hoops.